Seven Quick Takes
1. Last week, I talked some about my desire to become a self-sufficient pioneer woman (not to be confused with THE Pioneer Woman, though honestly, who WOULDN’T want to be Ree Drummond?) and Annette mentioned that she, too, sometimes feels the need to start growing and stockpiling her own food, just so she can survive the coming zombie apocalypse. I know it sounds totally crazy, but I often wonder if perhaps we will witness a fearfully apocalyptic event in our lifetime. I guess I’ve seen The Day After Tomorrow and Contagion too many times. Still – if something like that WERE to happen, I’d sure be glad if I’d had the foresight to put up 300 cans of tomatoes. #justsayin
2. While we’re on the topic of self-sufficiency and preparing for the zombie apocalypse (and you KNOW that “preparing for the zombie apocalypse” is now officially one of my blog categories) I found a nifty new website called Off the Grid News. I think I’ll be spending quite a bit of time there this weekend, looking around and thinking big thoughts.
3. My renewed interest in eating local/clean/whole foods made me realize how cheap and lazy I’ve been recently about grocery shopping, and that realization made me feel awful. Years ago I was a vegetarian because I couldn’t stand supporting the terrible treatment of animals in factory farm settings. It’s one thing to believe that animals are lower life forms that God created for humans to eat (or that our bodies are evolutionarily designed to consume meat, whatever fits your personal worldview) but I feel that mistreating those animals BEFORE they become our food is never, ever okay. Now that I am a reformed vegetarian (married to a carnivore and raising a little meat-eater as well), I want to get my hamburgers and eggs and bacon from a source that is humane, trustworthy, and local. So this week, for the first time in a few months, I placed an order with Windhaven Farm. And I’m so glad I did.
4. As an aside, I’d like to point out that, for me, buying meat from a supermarket truly isn’t much cheaper than buying it from the farm. I know a lot of people assume that grass-fed beef or pastured pork products are outlandishly expensive, but I’d like to encourage you to do some research before writing off the possibility. You may be pleasantly surprised!
I dug this out of my trash just for you. Yes, YOU. You’re welcome.
Here’s a cost comparison from the King family’s grocery bill: If I buy just a one- or two-pound package of ground beef from my local Kroger or Wal-mart, I will likely pay $4 to $5 per pound for it. If I buy the 3-lb. or 5-lb. “roll o’ beef” on sale, I MIGHT pay less than $3 a pound, but it’s unlikely. The ground beef I get from Windhaven is $4.50 a pound, it’s grass-fed/grain-finished so it tastes better and is healthier, and I’m supporting a small local farm instead of a nationwide supermarket chain. A difference of fifty cents to $1.50 a pound isn’t negligible, but it’s not significant enough for me to sacrifice my health and conscience.
Changing the subject now, since I’m sure I’m the only person who can talk about ground beef for hours on end…
5. Did you know that if you sign up for Rachel Held Evans’ non-spammalogical e-newsletter, you get a sneak peak at the first two chapters of her upcoming book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood? I did it, and I am not at all sorry because her book (at least the first two chapters of it) is awesome. Okay, maybe I am a little sorry because I make a point to try very hard not to pay retail for books and now I may have to. Thanks a lot, Rachel. THANKS A LOT.
6. Did any of you guys rush out to order your iPhone 5? I didn’t, but I’m considering getting one because A) we mysteriously have an upgrade credit on our Sprint account even though my husband and I each bought an iPhone 4s in the past year, and B) if we get a new-and-improved iPhone, I can let my son play with the old one. You see, my husband and I, unlike some parents, will not let our 2-year-old play with our phones. (That sounded snarky as I re-read it. I didn’t mean for it to. I just know that some parents aren’t as protective of their nice things as I am.) I’m just certain he’ll get bored with whatever educational, age-appropriate app I download for him and end up posting stuff on Facebook or ordering very expensive crap from Amazon.
“Hey girl. You look like the sort of woman who can really
appreciate the finer things in life, like a retina display
and A6 chip. What do you say we take a look at your
data package and see where I fit in?”
If we had an iPhone that only had certain apps on it and wasn’t connected to a cell network or even wifi, then my little person could play with the buttons and lights to his heart’s content and mommy and daddy wouldn’t have to give up THEIR buttons and lights or worry about international phone calls showing up on our bill. And then we could be one big happy family, staring at glowing screens all day long and never talking to each other. Wait. I think (I hope) I just talked myself out of this totally unreasonable and very scary (but very tempting) luxury purchase.
7. I’m going to take a cue from Kate of NFP and me and share a Friday Funny this week:
There’s just something about a totally incongruous fandom mashup that makes me heart go pitter-pat.
Y’all, I just finished my quick takes on WEDNESDAY. I am all kinds of prepared and stuff! I’m like a professional blogger. (Who doesn’t get paid. And doesn’t have any readers. But whatever, I didn’t say that I AM a professional blogger, just that I am LIKE one.) Now I just have to make sure I have a Munchies Monday post ready for (yeah, you guessed it) Monday.
Be sure to go see Jen for more Quick Takes!!!
You know, this local/organic thing is a real sore spot for me–I want so much to do it, but I don’t shop the way most other people do, apparently. I go to Aldi, where the roll of ground beef is $2.99 and the eggs are $1.15 a dozen, and my grocery bills are STILL $150 a week for 6 people. I buy steaks when they are on “manager’s special.” And although I totally, completely buy into the idea of chemical-free, locally-grown food, I can’t see almost doubling my grocery bill to do it. I wish I had a solution.
I get this. I really, really do. My family is just three people right now (well, three and a half when you count the person-in-progress) and our grocery bill is about $100 a week when I’m NOT buying organic/free-range/whatever type stuff. The thing is that each of us has to figure out what’s important to us and what we’re able to sacrifice for or splurge on – and that’s different from person to person and family to family. For me, the humane treatment of animals is much more important that organic produce. I can’t bring myself to pay $2.79 for ONE organic bell pepper even though I know that peppers are supposed to be one of the MOST pesticide-laden pieces in the produce aisle. Would it be better for me and my family to eat only organic food? Yes, but I have to prioritize.
The problem with this sort of issue (and, well, lots of consumer issues and diet discussions and and and) is that people who have a “revelation” about it get rather preach-y and judge-y. And it becomes very divisive. I have done my share of alienating people when I get a little too passionate about a subject, so I try to remember that everyone’s circumstances are different and everyone’s convictions are different.
And now instead of continuing this monstrously long comment, I think I will just write another blog post. Thanks for the inspiration
#4: If I’d eaten red meat while living in Montana, I totally would have bought it from one of my parishioners (most of them were ranchers) because I saw how they raised their cattle.
I think that would be really cool – to actually be able to buy your meat from a friend!
Was Montana absolutely gorgeous? My husband and I sometimes fantasize to moving to a place with lots of open land and cows and beautiful sunsets, but I really know very little about Montana and other places “out west.”